Read AM13 Outbreak Series (Book 2): Forgotten for Free Online

response. I need to act quickly—I can’t let her get in here or I’ll be trapped. I flick the lock closed and push the washing basket up against the door. If she’s strong, this won’t hold for long so I can’t dither. I rush over to the mirror and switch the tap on. The sound of the rushing water soothes me for a second; if I can get my skin washed I’ll be able to think straighter. As I run the warm water over my arms and face, my pulse slows down significantly. Even though I can’t actually see anything on me, I can feel it washing away—leaving me and flushing down the drain. I also have to clean my teeth to get rid of the stale smell, and scrub the splatters of bile that hit my shoes on the way up the stairs. I would never have been able to concentrate with all of that filling my brain. Now I’m fresh, I can focus on the bigger problems.
    Next I need to get out. I look towards the door, to where Clare is standing, and remember her hiding behind pillows at the scary moments in horror films. How has my kind-hearted, lovely Clare become the villain? She’s now the monster I need to escape from. If I wasn’t so frightened, I’d be laughing at the absurdity of the situation.
    And now I have to kill her.
    That thought bursts loudly into my brain in my negative doomsday voice. It’s mocking me, laughing at me, enjoying my pain. No, I can’t do that. Although I think I would rather someone kill me, than leave me in that infected state, but I would never be able to forgive myself if they found a cure and I’d murdered my beautiful Clare for no real reason. No, I’ll find another way out of here. No one needs to die today.
    I made a stupid move going upstairs, I shouldn’t have let panic rule my decisions. Now it’s going to be really difficult for me to get out. I glance out of the window, is there a drain pipe I can climb down or something? No, I’m not going to be able to do that. The only way I’ll be leaving is through the front door. Now it’s just a question of how. The hungry look I saw in Clare’s eyes suggested she isn’t going to give me up easily.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 10
     
     
    ALYSSA
     
    There’s a man, all scruffy and covered in blood. His clothes are torn and hanging off of his body. He’s wild-eyed and sprinting quickly towards me. Is he infected? Maybe he’s been homeless during the Lockdown or something. I’m in way better condition than he is, but then I’ve only just come outside.
    I’m frozen to the spot, watching everything progress in slow motion. I can’t work out if he’s a zombie or not. He’s running, which goes against what I’ve learnt of AM13, but then viruses can evolve. I’ve read plenty of books where that happens, but it’s usually caused by something—a nuclear bomb, maybe—and that certainly hasn’t happened here. They would have warned us if there was any chance of radiation poisoning, wouldn’t they? I seriously hope that doesn’t happen. I don’t want to suffer that long, agonising death.
    So if I assume he’s alive, then why the hell is he gripping tightly onto the hand of a woman who is without a doubt riddled with the disease? Why would anyone pull a zombie along with them as they run? That’s what you’re supposed to be escaping from.
    I’m fascinated by her appearance. Her head is partially caved in, obviously not quite enough to kill her yet, but it still looks pretty horrific. Her mouth is ripped wide open, which makes her growling much louder than any I’ve heard before. She is dragging a bloody stump behind her, with bones poking out at all angles. Intestines are dangling down under her shirt and clumps of black blood are sporadically falling from her. She looks so much like a stereotypical beaten up, old zombie, just like a Hollywood construct, that she doesn’t frighten me at all, despite the fact that she smells appalling. Even though she’s completely disgusting, I feel completely desensitised to her. She